Jose Mourinho – The architect of Real Madrid’s quest for glory

Real Madrid are on their course of winning the La Liga this time, albeit Barcelona cut the six point deficit and mount a late title challenge. Empirically Los Blancos have been the better side than their archrivals Barcelona. Consistency has been the hallmark of Madrid this season, and all credit must go to Jose Mourinho for leading his troops to glory. By sculpting the squad to his taste, he has infused his ideals and methods amongst his pupils; as a result we have seen a different brand of Madrid this season – a Mourinho-esque Madrid.

a) Jose’s second season – It has become a folklore. Jose will do wonder in his second season in charge. The Portuguese has done that every time and everywhere he went. His Porto team became the envy of Europe in his second season. His Chelsea squad was already a dangerous side in his first season; it became nightmare for others in the second. Likewise, he resurrected Italian football as a whole by giving Inter Milan the historic treble including a Champions League triumph in his second season. Surely, he can repeat the history again.

b) Hallmark of a champion team – Jose perhaps understood that Barcelona are too strong for them at the moment. But, they have to face them only twice in the league. By not getting too perturbed and carried away with El-Clasico they have focused on controlling their own results. Thereby, despite media creating all sorts of hubbub after Barcelona won the first meeting, it didn’t create any sort of panic on Madrid camp as Jose’s side went on to demolish other teams with an empyrean ease putting counter pressure on the Catalan giants. They have countered all sorts of challenges- made a habit of coming from behind and winning it, won matches when playing badly, coped up nicely when key players got injured – it seemed like they have an answer to every obstacle a league can throw upon them.

c) Impressible away record – Any Jose Mourinho’s side have made their home ground a fortress. They have won 13 out of 15 home games at the Bernabeu, drawing one. Simply outstanding. However, what made the difference this season is their impressive away record. They have registered 11 wins out of 14 away matches, drawing two and losing one, compared to Barcelona who have won only eight matches and drawing five. And those two draws came only this month after a run of 11 consecutive wins. After all, they are bunch of humans.

d) Improvement in defense – Defense and Madrid? Sounds crazy, isn’t it? That too without disturbing the attacking flair? Jose forged a strong defensive organization at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan. He did the same at Madrid too but with a little flair. Despite the word-war with some of his players, the best thing about the two-time UCL winner manager is he always backs his players in his own way. He backed Sergio Ramos at central defence, his partnership with Pepe gave Madrid solidity at the back. Fabio Coentrao’s versatility was a great help and likewise, Carvalho, Arbeloa played their part too. The attacking threat of Marcelo paved the way for Madrid to endorse a breath taking counter attacking football this season. They have conceded only nine goals away from home, 26 in total from 29 games.

e) Superlative individual performance – Ronaldo was doing all sorts of goal scoring magic ever since he joined The Whites. But, this season the limelight hasn’t restricted to one man only. Karim Benzema is enjoying the form of his life, scoring 27 goals and 14 assists so far. Angel Di Maria had 13 assists to his name before he got injured and Mesut Ozil after getting harsh pep-talk from the boss early this season improved his assist tally to 21. But, what should be the biggest achievement of Jose Mourinho is his contribution in rejuvenating Kaka. The diamond was losing its shine somehow, but it was still a diamond. Jose with care polished its surface and the result is evident before us. Kaka, still nowhere near his best but whatever glimpse he has shown is enough for Madrid to embrace the title. More than that, it gave football romantics a belief that Kaka has lot to offer in coming days.

Perhaps, the only fly in the ointment remains is Madrid’s failure to beat their arch rival Barcelona. It has been bothering the home fans as they vociferously raised the concern on few occasions. A title without defeating Barcelona therefore will leave a sour taste in mouth. However, all will be forgotten if Jose can deliver the “Holy Grail of Europe” to the kingdom where European monarchy belongs to.

Follow Saikat Mandal on twitter @Saikat_SAnchor